I consider today the last day of summer. It’s Labor Day. Which honestly, I have no idea what that even means. I just know that I must pack away my large white leather purse until next year. Oh, and that I get the day off of work.

Considering it’s the last day of summer it seems perfectly fitting that I spent part of the day with a girlfriend named Summer. We went to brunch at a great well known restaurant up one of the canyons here in Salt Lake City. This restaurant, Ruth’s Diner, is known for it’s fabulous patio seating.

So here we are. Enjoying the most perfect patio. Having the most perfect Bloody Mary. With the most perfect company. And with perfectly hungry tummies. We were starving!

And neither of us can decide what we want to order. Thank god for Ruth’s menu options. They identify the favorites with a pink flamingo icon next to the menu item. We were both indecisive about two items, both listed as Ruth’s Diner favorites, so we decided to split them. And that’s what made brunch today the most perfect ever.

Having lunch with a friend who will split their food makes me smile.

Oh, and ignore the cheese on the hash browns. I like to go healthy and women totally need calcium and “healthy” fat. Trust me, Summer’s boyfriend is a trainer and so she totally knows what to order.

And this may be the end of summer but I guarantee it won’t be the end of hanging out with Summer. That girl is amazing. And fun. And super sweet.

I host a crawfish party every year with two other people. We, the hosts, all live in Utah now but grew up in states where crawfish were prevalent.

Susan & Paul & Donna

Donna, a dear friend, is from Mississippi. It comes in handy to know that little song (M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I) when you have to spell that state. Donna is kind enough to have the party in her amazing backyard each year. We spend our evening under a fully grown beautiful sycamore tree. We even have lights strung up on it. We even had a guest climb up the tree. He is an attorney so we were worried that he’d fall out and sue our asses.

Paul, the token man host, is from Louisiana. When hosting a large party with lots of manly tasks, it is always wise to include a man with brawn on the team. It doesn’t hurt that he played football at LSU all through college. He taps the keg. He carries the filled coolers. He moves around the propane tanks. He does all the cooking.

Then there is me. I grew up in Texas. That’s all. I’m useless. But I often take pictures with people who wear cowboy hats.

We cook crawfish, potatoes, corn, onions and garlic. (By “we” I mean Paul) After they are cooked, we dump them out on the table. And people dig in. And this year the crawfish (aka mudbugs & crawdads) were huge this year. We get them flown in live from Louisiana every year.

Well the party was a huge hit again this year. We are already taking notes for next year. If you want an invite…comment on this post.

This Wino Wednesday post is brought to you after enjoying a wonderful glass of French white wine. I’m vague because I don’t remember the details. I do remember that it was delicious. But the exact name…no idea.

I was meeting up with some friends. I arrived first. Naturally I sat at the bar. Alone. And ordered a glass of white wine. The bar was empty. The restaurant had people filtering in which required them to walk past me. Yeah, did I mention I was alone in the bar? Sipping on my wine. Groups of people.  Mostly men. Probably on expense accounts. Yeah, it was that kind of place. High end, fancy place you go to on special occasions or when you’re on an expense account.

I couldn’t help myself. I said to the bartender, “God I wish my friends would hurry and get here. I feel like a high class call girl.” Sadly that was the truth.

Moments later they finally arrived. 

And the first comment was, “Oh my god, you totally look like Samantha from Sex and the City sitting here at the bar.”

My point exactly.

Wino Wednesday…this weekly feature is designed to share my wine related stories.